Chapter 45: Side Story The Protagonist

[Author’s note: As you already know, Shin is Japanese.]

My name’s Juumonji Shin. I’m your average 13-year-old teenager who just entered middle school and enjoys watching anime, reading light novels, and manga. I was quite excited for my first day of school, so I left my house in a hurry to be the first one there. However, as soon as I stepped outside, I was suddenly assaulted by a blinding light.

“Uwaaa!”

I covered my eyes with my hands, screaming in panic because I didn’t know what was happening.

“Did I just summon a commoner?”

“This is strange…”

“I wonder why I summoned a commoner. Sensei, do you have any ideas?”

“Hmm… This is unprecedented. I need more data.”

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After the bright light faded, I began hearing voices. They weren’t speaking Japanese but were conversing in English.

When I opened my eyes, I found myself sitting on the floor inside a dark room illuminated by candles. The books on the shelves looked ancient. I looked around and noticed an old man in a fancy robe standing near a window. Nearby, a short, effeminate young man approached me, wearing a plain white blazer jacket.

“What—what are you doing?”

I screamed in panic as the effeminate young man, who had shoulder-length blonde hair and a face that looked quite feminine, knelt in front of me and moved his head closer. His eyes were closed, and he seemed to be faintly blushing.

“Hey! I’m not into that! So get away from me!” Thanks for reading on ManaNovel!

At the sound of my voice, the young man opened his eyes and stared at me with curiosity.

“Sensei, can you understand what he’s saying?”

“No, I can’t. He must come from a faraway land because he’s speaking a different language. However, don’t worry. Once you’ve completed the contract with your familiar, it will gain the ability to understand you.”

As the two conversed in English, I tried to calm myself by taking deep breaths.

“O-oi! I thought you weren’t going to do that anymore! Are you into guys or what?”

Even though they spoke in English, I assumed they could understand my Japanese when the effeminate young man stopped. I must have been wrong. By the way, my English skills were poor, so I hadn’t considered communicating with them in English.

“Oi! You seriously need to stop this!”

“Stay still for a moment… <Wind Bind>”

As I struggled to resist, my body was suddenly bound by an invisible force. I couldn’t move my hands, so I couldn’t stop the young man’s advance as he kissed me. I felt a warm sensation envelop my body.

...

“Please kill me… just kill me… Even though the other person looked like a girl, he was still a guy… to think I’d lose my first kiss to a guy…”

After the kiss, I managed to move to a corner of the room and sulked.

“Unn… Just like you said, Sensei, I can now understand what he’s saying. How about you, Sensei?”

“No, I still can’t. Remember, only you, his master, can understand him.”

“Ah… I thought when you said, ‘he’d obtain the ability to understand me,’ you meant that included you too.”

“And because of that, your grades will never rise.”

“Guh—I’ll work hard to improve them….”

Curious about their conversation, I turned my head towards them. I saw the boy who kissed me hanging his head in shame. Noticing my gaze, he met my eyes and gave me a smile. His cuteness made me suddenly remember our kiss.

“Uwaaa! Just kill me already!”

I writhed on the floor, trying to forget the unpleasant sensation.

“What’s wrong?”

“Sensei, my familiar said he wanted to die… Do you know why?”

“Hmmm… Maybe it’s because you didn’t complete the contract properly. Why don’t you try again?”

“Really? Haa~ Even though it was so embarrassing, I need to do it again?”

When I heard the word ‘again,’ I quickly stood up and said, “Are you planning to kiss me again!? No, no, no! I don’t want to experience that… disturbing action again!”

“I’m sorry. I failed to properly forge the contract with you. Because of that, you wanted to die, right? Don’t worry, I’ll do it correctly this time.”

“No, no, no! The reason I wanted to die was because of what you did to me! It’s also because I thought your kiss felt quite good and wanted to do it agai—arrgh! Look at what you made me say!”

The effeminate boy fidgeted, his face red.

“Please don’t do that! I beg of you! Stop being so cute!”

“C-cute? You think I’m c-cute?”

“Yes, yes, you’re cute… you’re so cute that I wanna pus— Arggh! Bad thoughts, go away! Bad thoughts, go away!”

I quickly ran to a stone wall and banged my head against it.

“You’re not going to reforge the contract, Michael?”

“Um, Sensei, it seems the reason my familiar wants to die is because of my earlier actions…”

“Is that also why you’re blushing, Michael? Don’t worry, that was just a ceremony to form a contract. It doesn’t count.”

“I-is that true?”

“Yes. So there’s no need to be embarrassed.”

“Haa, that’s good. I actually thought I lost my first time.”

I stopped banging my head when they started conversing. It was strange to hear fluent Japanese from one and English from the other, yet they understood each other. I wondered if they understood Japanese. I approached the old man and asked the questions swirling in my mind.

“Oi, old man, where am I? Who are you? Who’s he?”

The old man looked confused, with question marks floating above his head. The effeminate boy then tugged my sleeve and spoke.

“Umm… He can’t understand what you’re saying.”

“What do you mean by ‘can’t’? Wasn’t he conversing with you even though you were speaking Japanese?”

“Umm… It’s because of the contract we made earlier…”

“Contract?”

I pondered for a moment, and the image of our kiss flashed in my mind. I blushed immediately.

“I’m a mage, and you’re the familiar I summoned.”

“Are you delusional? You say you’re a mage, right? Then I dare you to use magic in front of me.”

When I was a child, I believed I could use magic. I’d run around the neighborhood telling my friends I was a mage. However, when they asked me to perform magic, my delusion was crushed when I couldn’t do it. That part of my childhood became a dark memory.

“Sure… [Appear before me <Fireball>]”

As the effeminate boy spoke, a floating ball of fire appeared in front of me. He even used his finger to move the fireball.

“What!?”

I must have looked dumbfounded because the boy giggled cutely.

“Though my main attribute is wind, I’ve trained to use other elements. I can only use basic spells with them, though.”

“Is this for real?”

When I asked, he gave a decisive yes.

“T-then… I really was summoned by you? And this isn’t some cheap trick for a TV show?”

“TV show? I don’t know what that is, but I can assure you I’m not tricking you. I really did summon you.”

“… WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!?”

I screamed at the top of my lungs as I processed what he had said. I could handle being summoned to another world, as I’d read about it in light novels. However, my situation wasn’t like those light novels where a beautiful girl summons a guy from modern Japan to be her familiar.

“W-why d-did you scream?”

“Who wouldn’t? Oh god, why did my summoner have to be a guy?”

“…”

“I wanna go home and forget about this!”

Since this world was like those in light novels, there should be a way to return home if I searched for it.

“Ummm…”

“However, I can’t do it just yet. For now, I need a place to live while I search for a way back. Thankfully, being summoned as a familiar means my summoner will be responsible for taking care of me… but still…”

I looked at my summoner’s cute face.

“Oh god… It would’ve been okay if my summoner was a girl… why did it have to be a guy…”

The effeminate boy interrupted my thoughts with a hesitant look.

“Ummm… since you’re my familiar… I think it’s okay for me to share my secret with you…”

“What secret?”

The boy cleared his throat a few times and glanced at the person standing a few steps away from us. He nodded several times.

“Actually… I’m a… girl…”

My mind went blank.

“… Eh? Could you say that again…”

“I said I’m a girl! I’m only dressed like this because of my family’s tradition.”

I fell silent. The effeminate boy—now revealed as a cute girl—looked at me worriedly.

“BBBBBBBBBAAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNNNZZZZZZAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIII!!!! I’M NEVER GOING BACK TO MY OWN WORLD!!!”

My scream caused the girl to fall

on her butt. I then remembered what she had said before.

“Oh yeah! You mentioned redoing the contract, right? Let’s do it again!”

If this weren’t about a contract, I’d be charged with assaulting a girl. But since I’m in another world, those laws may not apply here. Plus, as her familiar, kissing her should be acceptable.

Huehuehue… I can’t wait to do the same things that guy named H**aga S**to did to L****se with this girl…

“Come on… let’s redo the contract ceremony! Come on! Master!”

“N---”

“N?”

“NOOOO!!!”

The girl waved her hand in front of me, and suddenly, I was flying toward the wall.

Thud*

The impact was strong, and my consciousness began to fade.

'I’m going to thoroughly enjoy this world and gather a harem of my own. Middle school? Parents? If this is a fantasy world, there should be a way to get back, so that’s not a problem. For now, my goal is to gather every character archetype and make them fall in love with me… or maybe I’ll go for the same thing as the protagonist in ZnT and make my master fall in love with me… Either way works for me… huehuehuehue'

After laughing vulgarly in my mind, I fainted.